Paris (AFP)

"The worst solution", "totalitarian impulses": the opposition does not fool after the government's use of 49-3 to pass the pension reform and is preparing to retaliate during the discussion of motions of censorship to the 'National Assembly.

Edouard Philippe assured the social partners of his desire to "further develop the text of the bill".

After the Prime Minister's decision on Saturday to use article 49-3 of the constitution to put an end to the bogged down debate in the Palais Bourbon, members of the right and left deposited two separate motions of censure on the office of the Assembly .

Two texts which, according to a government source, should be debated "a priori Tuesday". The bill will be considered adopted at first reading unless one of the two is adopted. Which is very improbable, the government having a majority in the Assembly.

The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, denounced for his part the "totalitarian impulses" of the regime in the Journal du Dimanche: "It's pure Macron juice, it despises the lives of ordinary people" .

Charges of disloyalty on the part of the government also spilled, the Prime Minister having obtained the green light for a 49-3 Saturday during the Council of Ministers devoted to preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

For Yannick Jadot (EELV), "the government has chosen the worst solution". "It brings together a Council of Ministers to address the issue of the coronavirus (...) and we learn that on the sly it was essentially to finally give the Prime Minister the opportunity to make a statement on 49-3", said he said on Europe 1 and Cnews.

- "Cynicism" -

"This government is in absolute cynicism, to do so in the middle of the coronavirus, in the full Council of Ministers only on this, it is the most total cynicism", added the boss of deputies Les Républicains, Damien Abad, on France3.

An accusation dismissed on Saturday evening by Edouard Philippe for whom "it has no connection with the coronavirus".

The misunderstanding however goes beyond mere opposition. "It is not the 49-3 which is surprising, it is the timing. At the moment when it needs political consensus on the management of the health crisis, the government reopens a political front", was astonished the president of the Elabe studies institute, Bernard Sananès.

In a letter to the social partners, the Prime Minister said that "the end of debates at first reading in the National Assembly is not a result. We can, we must, further develop the text of the bill" .

Edouard Philippe also wanted to be reassuring, at this stage, on the holding of the municipal elections of March 15 and 22.

"The elections are a decisive moment in democratic life, it never occurred to anyone to restrict this electoral freedom," he said on TF1. "The elections will obviously take place (...) Our objective is neither to constrain the municipal campaigns, of course, nor to constrain the conduct of the elections".

Health risks and the upcoming holding of elections, however, imply changes in practices, with in particular the instruction to avoid handshakes. "It's very difficult not to shake hands, it's a gesture of appeasement," admits Yannick Jadot, campaigning to support the environmental candidates.

© 2020 AFP